Finally, we have a statement that was prepared by Last Gasp, in conjunction with the MMF that can be found here on their blog. Here’s a preview of what they had to say:

“We are extremely proud to publish Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen series. Last Gasp has always championed autobiographical comics because of their emotional honesty. Many of the comics and graphic novels we have published are drawn from authors’ life stories, ranging from Justin Green‘s Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary to Toufic El Rassi’s Arab in America. Gen fits into the same category, but also speaks to other themes that have been an important part Last Gasp’s publishing from the very beginning—environmentalism and anti-war protest…”